


Imprinting

by ChamberLady



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Baby Dwarves, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gen, Imprinting, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-19 20:08:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15517629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChamberLady/pseuds/ChamberLady
Summary: Bilbo has been with the company for weeks now but the relationship between Thorin and his youngest nephew, Kili, confuses the poor hobbit to no end. Secretly, Bilbo thinks they are in an incestuous relationship but Balin sets the burglar straight and tells him about an ancient dwarven tradition.





	Imprinting

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction so please be kind! The idea for this fic just popped into my head so I just wrote it down. I might elaborate on this idea further in the future but no guarantees. Also please excuse any spelling or grammar mistakes!

It had been a few weeks since Bilbo had joined the company of dwarves. He was slowly beginning to become accustomed to their little (and not so little) quirks. The group had recently settled down for the night and were waiting for Bombur to finish their dinner. The smell was delectable and was making Bilbo’s stomach growl quite loudly. He truly did miss his hobbit hole and its (once) full pantry. Nowadays, he was lucky to get even two meals per day! Today he had found the last of his lembas bread and ate in for a tiny breakfast. His mouth was watering as he waited for Bombur to finish cooking.

While he was waiting for dinner, he looked around at his traveling companions. The dwarves had split up and were sitting next to their family members. The Ri’s were sitting next to each other, with Dori fussing over Ori as Nori smoked on his pipe. The Ur’s all sat near the campfire as Bombur cooked, Bofur helped by getting out the dishes, and Bifur sat quietly whittling a piece of wood. Balin and Dwalin sat off to the side, both smoking their own pipes. The group that caught Bilbo’s attention the most was the royal family. They often did since Bilbo found their behaviors to be the oddest.

The group sat the farthest away from the others. Fili sat on the ground sharpening his throwing knives, an activity that Bilbo could honestly see any of the other dwarves doing. It was the stoic king and the playful younger nephew that always made him wonder. Thorin sat on the ground, leaning against a fallen log, smoking a pipe. Kili was lying on the ground, half in Thorin’s lap with Thorin’s free hand raking through his messy hair.

That is what Bilbo always finds so odd about this family group. None of the dwarves were afraid to show their family affection but it was almost always shown through clasping forearms and headbuts, although Bilbo did see the occasional hug. Bilbo would have figured Thorin would be the least physically affectionate but it turned out to be the exact opposite, albeit mostly with his younger nephew. Bilbo had internally wondered if what he was seeing was a potentially incestous relationship. Did the dwarves view incest in the same negative light that hobbits did? He wouldn’t have thought that though if Thorin had spread out his affection more evenly between his nephews but Thorin gave a majority of his physical affection to Kili.

Bilbo didn’t realize he was scowling toward the uncle and nephew until Balin sat himself down next to the hobbit. Balin chuckled at the smaller, “You seem to be thinking very hard, laddie.”

“I suppose,” Bilbo said, turning away from the royal family to face the dwarf sitting with him.

“You find Thorin’s and Kili’s behavior odd?” Balin asked before taking another puff from his pipe.

“I understand affection between family. We hobbits have very large and close families so I understand that part but the amount that of time Thorin pays attention to Kili seems odd to me. From what I have seen these past few weeks, you dwarves are not overly affectionate yet Thorin spends a good amount of time with Kili. I think it wouldn’t be so odd if he also spent so much time with Fili, but he doesn’t,” Bilbo explained.

Balin grunted and nodded. “Yes, I suppose it does seem odd, doesn’t it? Have you noticed, though, that none of the others find it odd?”

“I just assumed it was a cultural thing.”

“In a way, it is,” Balin cryptically explained as he glanced over to Thorin and Kili. “I assume you have not heard of imprinting?”

“Imprinting? Like how baby birds follow around whomever they think to be their mother?” Bilbo asked, brows furrowing in confusion. He couldn’t help but think of his neighbor who took care of an orphaned nest of duck eggs and could always be seen afterwards with little ducklings following him around all of Hobbiton.

“Yes, this is quite similar,” Balin agreed, surprising the hobbit, “We dwarves also have a process that we call imprinting. When dwaflings are born, their spirit intertwines with the first person that they see. No one knows why Mahal created us this way. Nowadays, immediately after birth, dwarflings a handed to their mothers so that they imprint on them. Most people believe this is how imprinting is suppose to be done because dwarrodams are rare. Having them be the centers of such strong ties makes them more well protected. In the past, though, dwarflings were imprinted onto their brothers to try and create a pair of brothers who were an even better fighting pair on the battlegrounds.”

Bilbo nodded but was still confused, “I do not understand what this has to do with Thorin and Kili, though. Thorin imprinted on his mother, and Kili to his own.”

“That therein lies the problem,” Balin said, “Kili didn’t imprint on his mother, he imprinted on his uncle.”

Bilbo was quite taken back at this revelation, “Why was Kili given to Thorin to imprint onto instead of his mother? Why wasn’t Fili also imprinted to Thorin?”

Balin shook his head and let out another puff of smoke, “It was by pure accident Kili imprinted to his uncle. Kili and Fili’s father had been away on a trading caravan when their mother, Dis, unexpectedly went into labour. Thorin had been at their house to help Dis but something went wrong when Dis tried to give birth. She began to bleed quite severely once Kili was born and instead of handing him to Dis, the healer handed him to Thorin so that they could try to save Dis’ life. They succeeded but it was too late for Kili to imprint on Dis because he had already opened his eyes and saw Thorin. He imprinted on him and was from then on intertwined with him.”

“How did Dis handle that news?” Bilbo curiously asked.

“Not well, as you can imagine. There were old stories of a handful of dwarflings that were re-imprinted onto another, but these stories were very rare. They decided to try and do this with Kili. Thorin had no contact with Kili or Dis for nearly four months because Kili had to be kept away from the original person he imprinted on. To say he was colicly would be an understatement. He screamed and cried nearly continuously and more frightening, he failed to thrive. He grew thin and frail.”

“So what happen? They could not get him to re-imprint could they?” Bilbo asked, enthralled in the story being told to him. It was beginning to make sense why Thorin and Kili were so affectionate. If Kili’s soul was intertwined with Thorin’s then it made sense Bilbo often saw them together.

“No, they could not,” Balin confirmed, “When Kili’s health became a concern, Dis gave up trying to force Kili to imprint on her. She had Thorin move in with her family so that he could be there to help raise and comfort Kili. The imprinting lessens its hold as the dwarfling ages but Kili is still young, barely out of childhood. When he gets older, he and Thorin will be more like the others of the company in how much they show affection.”

Bilbo couldn’t help but smile. He was a bit embarrassed he had assumed there was an incestuous relationship in the company but hearing how close Thorin and Kili were made him smile. There was a heart beneath all the scowls, gruff yelling, and thick fur coats.

 

<><><><><>

 

Thorin sat leaning against a large log. Fili was sitting nearby sharpening his knives and Kili was half curled in his lap, his eyes dropping as sleep threatened them. Thorin allowed himself a smile smile as he carded his fingers through his nephew’s hair, catching on small knots every now and then.

He had seen their company’s hobbit staring oddly at him and he had nodded to Balin to check it out. Balin had spent a decent amount of time talking to the hobbit and seemed to have caught his full attention. After a while, Balin stood up, put out his pipe, and walked over to Thorin, whom he sat down next to.

“Well?” Thorin asked between taking puffs from his pipe. He saw Kili glance up at them with a question in his eyes and his brows furrowed.

“It seems our hobbit was confused about your affectionate gestures and actions with Little Kili,” Balin explained.

Kili let out a huff in Thorin’s lap, not thrilled about being called “Little Kili” like he had been throughout his entire childhood.

“What did you say?” Fili asked, stopping what he was doing to look to Balin.

“The truth,” Balin said plainly, “That Kili imprinted on Thorin.”

Thorin nodded and looked back to camp as Bofur called them all over to eat their supper.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
